Blackguards 2 Previews
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Another fistful of hands-on previews for Daedalic's Blackguards 2 has reached the web, providing us with some last-minute details about the turn-based RPG sequel before its release next week.
Gamereactor:
Our first impression of the game was the surprisingly interesting performances of the voice actors. While it feels like a radio play in many respects, and some of the performances feel a little over-cooked, there's some nice lines in there. The scene is set, a new character called Cassia is cast into an underground jail, a labyrinth full of spiders. These arachnids bite Cassia until she starts to lose her mind and her face becomes grotesquely deformed.
The game uses an hexagonal grid system for the character to move along the varied environments with all sorts of nasty enemies in the way, from skeletons to spiders, and with various levers and such to interact with to reach the destination. When face-to-face with an enemy, you have the option of moving a short distance and playing an attack, be it melee, ranged or spell-based, or you can move a longer distance in one go without attacking. Each character takes it in turn to play their desired move. When it comes to combat, the game even highlights how successful you'll be, in the form of a percentage, when attacking the enemy with a weapon.
A minor bugbear and this is more my own fault than the game's is the gear. The first trader I came to I had assumed that the starting gear I was wearing would be rubbish and because I'd looted around 16 gold, I bought all the armour I could and swapped it; it turns out the starting gear for this hero is rather good and I wasted my gold. The thing is everybody knows that your starting gear in every game is just paper pants and a tissue t-shirt!
One of the best parts of my experience with the game would be the story. Playing as Cassia, a woman banished into a dungeon with no hope of escape, you start the game walking through said dungeon trying to find a means of actually getting out. This section serves as something of a tutorial. Unfortunately the dungeon is filled with giant spider-like creatures (I hate giant spider-like creatures) that have a poisonous bite which will either kill you or send you insane. Spending four years down in the depths with the spiders, Cassia becomes disfigured and loses her mind. Eventually escaping the dungeon she has nothing but revenge on the braind. As someone who generally likes to play the 'good guy' in games, and creates them in RPGs, I enjoyed the dark tones of Blackguards 2, and the twisted angle they went for with the main protagonist.
And Pissed Off Geek:
A nice touch to attack is the weaponry that is available and the understanding that you can build up about the environment. Magic is particularly effective when fighting the enemy as are long ranged attack weapons. I liked the fact that characters who are equipped by spears can also attack over two spaces on the battleground rather than just one. The fact that some low objects and even dwarves can also be low enough to allow the spear attack to move over them is a nice touch too. Little touches like this make combat fun, though not too easy.
